#trash punk jam

[pawzngauze]

Working on a game for the Trash Punk Jam being put on by Rev Casey and....

The vibe this creates is AMAZING and I am so happy with the work I'm doing for this!!!

I think something I want to incorporate into this game is finding creative ways to avoid using dice. I think something most TTRPG makers don't know is despite the culture around TTRPGs in prisons, a lot of them can't be played due to dice being banned. I want to make this game ACCESSIBLE.

[weepylucifer]

it's beautiful to picture the anodic dance club as like, the new hot spot for the young people of martinaise to hang out and all bond with each other and have all their different worldviews mingle and create new things... but lbr chances are half of those people are going to end up just not really liking anodic music. like, thanks for keeping the pale hole contained or whatever but this music blows

[theunderestimator-2]

Lux Interior & Chopper Franklin, last ever bass player to record with The Cramps, backstage at The Paradiso, Amsterdam, where they performed on Sept. 18th, 2003, about a week after Johnny Cash had passed away (here in a photo captured by Arjan van den Berg and published in 'Oor' Magazine issue Nov. 2003).

Scott "Chopper' Franklin had started out as a Black Flag teen roadie, learning guitar & bass and jamming with anybody that he could. In Hollywood he crossed paths with the infamous Rick Wilder and began playing bass for the notorious punk rock outfit The Mau-Maus, then later joined the trash rock outlaws The Joneses. He relocated to New York and after having met Lux Interior and Poison Ivy, he eventually joined the Cramps in 2002. He did several tours and recorded the final Cramps studio album “Fiends of Dope Island”. After performing with various bands, he has been playing with the goth americana band Heathen Apostles for the past decade.

(via)

[the-badger-mole]

AU Bot Plots

Zuko is a fantastic pianist. A prodigy from an impressively young age, and in another family, that might mean something. Zuko breaks his neck trying to prove to his business tycoon father and budding politician sister that his piano playing isn't just some easily dismissed hobby. He becomes world famous and has played for people of prominence that even his father couldn't get a phone call with. But it's still not enough.

One day, his father says something awful, and Zuko has a crisis when he realizes that he built his entire career to win the approval and love of a father who refuses to give it, and he walks away from the piano altogether, becoming a recluse (who works sometimes at his uncle's tea shop when Iroh worries he's spending too much time alone). He meets Katara when she stops in to the shop. She knows who he is immediately and is surprised to find the world famous pianist working the counter at some random tea shop. They have a conversation and Zuko finds out Katara is also a musician. She invites him to an open jam session where her band will be playing. It's not a show, and anyone who is so inclined can join the band to play. Zuko is hesitant because he's still got some issues around music and performing. Still he's intrigued and he goes to at least watch the performance.

It Is AWFUL!!!

There's no real rhyme or reason to anything that's being played. It sounds like disjointed songs being played all at once. The 'performers" don't all have the same skill level, so there's a fantastic drummer keeping time to a guitarist who only knows two chords, and the person on the keyboards just went through an awful break up and is taking it out directly on the keys. Katara is playing the bass, but the levels are so wonky that Zuko feels her playing more than actually hears it.

Zuko leaves, vowing never to come to this slaughterhouse of sound ever again. But of course, he does come back. The sound is awful, but the people didn't demand too much of him. The ones that paid him any mind at all were really nice. The next time he comes back, Katara offers him the drum sticks. He reminds her that he plays the piano, but Katara insists he gives the drums a try. After a few timid whacks at it, he starts to hit harder and harder and harder until he's just pummeling the drums without any consideration for actual musicality. He stops when he breaks the snare drum and realizes that he's crying. He runs away, and Katara follows him to make sure he's okay. She tells him that what he's feeling is the point of her little musical club. It's not about sounding perfect, it's about working out emotions through the music.

At some point it comes out that Katara knows who Zuko is because she is also a gifted classical musician. Her instrument is the cello, but she never made it as far as Zuko. Then she discovered the guitar and experimental trash punk and never looked back. She is also part of a band that plays actual music and actual shows, too, which Zuko gets to go to at some point. Katara's band is surprisingly (to Zuko) very good. The music is still pretty unconventional, but it's...recognizable as music. Skillfully played music.

The story ends with Zuko coming to terms with his trauma around trying to please his father with his career and rediscovering his genuine love for the piano. He returns to the classical music circuit, and is occasionally joined by his girlfriend, Katara, on cello, when she's not recording with her band

[vintagerpg]

The squares still ain’t gonna save the day. This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we’re continuing our talk with Anthony Meloro about Mystic Punks! This is Part the Second, so be sure to check out last week’s jam to get the full experience. On tap: the imminent Kickstarter for the multiplayer Mystic Punks RPG, the majestic art of Benjamin Marra, trash culture, the healing power of reefer and so much more!

[lurkingintheback]

So I was trying something for the Tabletop Game Jam going on, but this is way over 200 words. Still liked the concept, so here's this one while I work on another!

Lemonade Mogul: The Corporate Warfare Card Game

A competitive game for three to five players. Might be able to play it with two, but you're probably going to have more fun flipping the table if there are more people on the other side of it. When a group of kids get the exact same get-rich-quick scheme idea to get them through the summer, tensions get high. There isn't enough room in this town for three, let alone six competing lemonade businesses, and you little Timmy/Suzy/Brook, are not going to be the one getting your hopes and dreams bought out or destroyed.

Materials Needed

Three to Five Players!

One deck of Lemonade Mogul themed cards! (Roughly about thirty cards divided into ten Location, Benefit, and Hazard cards)

Play Money! (Real Money not recommended for games with strangers, exes, or any small lemonade stand owning urchins with a mischievous glint in their eyes and nothing to lose.)

A notepad to keep track of winning bids.

Lemonade! (Optional, but who wouldn't want a refreshing glass?)

Playing the Game!

Lemonade Mogul starts with each player being given an equal small amount of play money, hazard cards, and benefit cards, along with one location card at random while the remaining stacks of location cards, benefit cards, and hazard cards each lie face down on the table. Each player is given some time to look over their cards before the first location card is turned over; revealing one of the places you can sell lemonade at!

Or rather, could sell lemonade at. The first thing you have to deal with is the Bidding Phase.

Bidding Phase: Each location card has their own perks and drawbacks; and each one gets you just a little more money each turn, depending on how much the card states. However, locations can be bought by other players if they have the same amount of money as the winning bid. Though players don't get additional money from new location cards on their first turn, each location provides passive benefits; or passive drawbacks. Maybe that country club provides you with a lot of money, but you're having to spend more time there and can't draw other locations. Maybe that graveyard doesn't provide you with much money, but the local necromancer's a big fan of your lemonade, and he'll sic zombies on one of your competitors every three turns to keep them busy. Maybe the church protects you from THE BOGEYMAN.

Development Phase: Now for the fun part. This is where you slam down your benefit cards or toss a hazard card at someone else. Maybe you trash a player's location, preventing them from getting money from it for another turn. Maybe you get a big sale from a wealthy eccentric old lady covered in cats who thinks your small business is the bee's knees. Maybe you commit insurance fraud; discarding a location for a big sum.

Some benefit cards exist only as counters to specific hazards or benefits (siccing the cops on a fraudster and forcing them to drop the location without a cash boost, exorcising the ghost in your refrigerator sent to stall you from getting your money, ensuring your lemonade stand has a clean bill of health), while other benefit cards specifically just benefit you or another player.

Despite the fact that there can be only one Lemonade Mogul, you're free to use your benefit cards on another player's behalf; or work with them! The competition is as friendly or as unfriendly as you make it.

Hazard cards meanwhile, are legitimately just hazards you're throwing at one player for a turn. Though you can only toss one (usually, unless the card has different rules) at another player, you're free to gang up with other players on someone. Maybe you're summoning a spooky ghost to haunt a competitor's fridge to halve their income via taking up their time, or you've tricked a gang of angry punk rock fans into thinking that your opponent hates the indie band they like, and they're trashing the location. Some hazards only last for one turn, while others are perpetual until they've been handled.

Finally, there's the Buying Phase; the point where players can look over previously bid locations and buy them out; putting their play money back in the pile and swiping the location card. It doesn't matter how much money the player has; as long as it's at least a dollar more than the winning bid, it's their own! The objective is to buy out every location the other players have; if a player runs out of locations and can't bid for any more, they're out of luck and on the buying player's team; though they can still play hazards or use benefits, any money they've made is funneled directly towards the player who bought them out.

All you've got to do is buy out everyone else; then you'll take the coveted title of Lemonade Mogul!

[shutupthepunx111]

mp100 band au is this anything

i have an idea for an au for a fic that i will probably never write ok yall tell me if this is trash

(it would be ritsu-centric, i think, but im not sure)

so instead of ESP, mob is a guitar ingenue and is insanely talented, and ritsu is very, VERY jealous of this and wants to be in a band so hard.

reigen is running a shady record label or venue (cant decide which) and becomes mob's mentor/manager, essentially teaching mob how to actually perform onstage as well as play music (because reigen can't play for shit but ill be damned if he isnt flashy as hell)

teru has a band that he sings lead for, but mob gets a lot of buzz and so obviously he gets angry and they have a lame 2000s movie battle of the bands and then decide to join up and form their own band

mob and tsubomi used to play music together when they were younger, and that's how mob got into it in the first place - tsubomi plays bass and wanted somebody to jam with, mob immediately volunteered

shou is in a rly tough punk band, and his dad owns a large corporate conglomerate (think clear channel or livenation or iheartmedia) so shou decided fuck this etc etc and rebels against him (he plays drumsb fucking obviously)

he and ritsu meet when ritsu is tending bar at one of mob's shows, shou starts trash talking mob and ritsu is like uhh hey. dont fufkcing do that and anyway he gets roped into shou's band

eventually they all form a band together. im unsure where serizawa and tome fit into it all but you know.

lots of this is actually inspired by the song ride the vibe by dim wizard:)

thats it thats the idea!

[omegaremix]

The Great Cassette Purge.

Cassettes are the life of me. I have hundreds of them. I’ve bought them, recorded off the radio with them, made mixes and traded them with friends and people overseas. I’ve experimented with them and fixed them when they jammed, creased, or snapped themselves. They’ve been with me on bus trips to rival schools, on many a ride to Brooklyn and Staten Island, on ferries to Mashantucket and Atlantic City casinos, and as far up as Rochester for a music festival. They been with me through the golden-age of hip-hop, Top 40 stations, nine years of independent radio, and the reason why seasons came to play with personal mixtapes of mine. They are literal time machines. They’ve made me and Ω+.

The arrival of my 30GB iPod Classic and digital music forced my Walkmans to shamefully retire. The tapes have sat on shelves until I have time to digitize them. I’ve seen the format go on life support and now they’re making a comeback, even if only hanging by their own film (sorry). Some artists, especially punks, beatmakers, and d.i.y. artists still sell them. There’s even Cassette Store Day, and Long Island has their own online dealer in Tapehead City located in Long Beach. Cassettes are dead. Long live cassettes.

One summer day in the early Oughts, My insurance agent inherited two boxes of cassettes from a friend of his. He had no use for them, and neither did my agent. He didn’t want to throw them away, so he gave them to his best customer: my dad. Dad thought he was over-paying for his car insurance. At least he got a little something back for it. I come home and he tells me that there’s a surprise waiting for me. Hey, faithful Ω+ readers, wanna’ roll the dice on what that surprise was? C’mon…take a wild guess.

More good news came a few months later when my bro- gave me another surprise: more cassettes. Another boxes’ worth. He found them in the backseat of a car at a friend’s junkyard…which…didn’t sound right? I’ve essentially doubled my cassette library for free in nine months than I did buying them in twelve years. Way better than the trash heaps of big band records, medieval revival, and polka records dad used to bring home. Twice he did that to me. Twice! Of the nearly 175 cassettes I received, about half of them were library gold.

For doing absolutely nothing except coming home that day, I managed to get six R.E.M. albums and four Kate Bush tapes without even asking. Don’t tell Henry Rollins or Killing Joke’s Jaz Coleman about the U2 albums I got, too. And let’s hear it for three Smiths albums, once upon a time before Morrissey became the racist shit-gibbon he’s been for years.

Maintaining that Eighties quotient is essential with industrialists everywhere. Thank the Lord for Depeche Mode’s Black Celebration and Violator. Three from Adam Ant. Two from The Cars? Childhood justified, and Ric Ocasek produced gems with Alan Vega and Suicide. I even got a few midnight treats as well. The Cure, Siouxsie Sioux & The Banshees, and a Bauhaus double feature? I’m sadder as I ever been.

Alternative has always been synonymous with cassettes; plasticky and shelved nice and neat on display in your bedroom like the CDs you purchased from the mall. Those are authentic Nineties flashbacks. Gin Blossoms have been remembered as one of the more modest and respectable groups in the game. A free space for Jane’s Addiction’s Nothing’s Shocking which I unknowingly purchased again on disc later on. Mother’s Milk from the Red Hot Chili Peppers made One Hot Minute the only other album of theirs I need that matters to me.

More classics with two David Bowie titles and The Velvet Underground featuring Lou Reed. Sadly, the Bowie and Reed tapes didn’t make out with each other after the show. Add two from The Doors as well, because having too much Jim Morrison is never a bad thing. And finally, a good windfall doesn’t come without punk. A Fall release that wasn’t I Am Kurious Oranj which is the equivalent of owning Miles Davis’ Kind Of Blue. Iggy Pop, Husker Du, and The Stranglers also arrived. I can also tell you that since then, Public Image Ltd.’s 9 was one of the better free gifts I ever listened to and what made me a die-hard fan.

That’s the good.

The bad? It’s enough for you to question why I’d be doing Ω+. The law of averages dictate that amongst the larger number of cassettes you get, you’re bound to have a few eye-rolls and head-shakers. I ask myself what am I going to do with six Elvis and Judas Priest tapes? Nothing. The New Monkees without David Jones, Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, or Peter Tork? Might as well give me Fakewood Mac, too. It only gets worse from here. Liberace, Thompson Twins, Simply Red: these are legitimate hits to someone’s reputation. Wang Chung? Corey Hart? Rick Fucking Astley? They lead someone to the firing line with no conscience rounds and no common courtesy to be offered a cigarette.

That’s more than enough of the bad.

Ric Ocasek, producer and lead singer of The Cars, passed away just recently. Maximillian and I were cock-fighting over our record collections and made me realize I had some catching up to do. Count on friends to make you feel inferior and incomplete. Every year I do music library audits and even I surprise myself when I re-discover things I thought I never had. Not too long ago, I pulled out doubles I had of vinyl records I purchased before. I’ve been meaning to comb through my cassette library and rid myself of titles I had no interest in keeping or hearing. Now that’s done, I’m deciding on what to do next. I announced to the world of the Great Cassette Purge of 2019 and—

“OMG where did they go ive been meaninn to expand my cassette collection”, chimed in our former program-director Layne like a random gossip queen. M-Ro, another close friend of the station, got a little bit more sly and posted himself without referencing me. “Attention everyone. if you ever run into the problem of not knowing what to do with your unwanted records, tapes, cds, dvds, etc. I will 100% take them off your hands, just putting it out there.” Yeah, how cute of you.

I haven’t decided to what to do with them just yet. Selling them for money to a record-store on on Discogs is not an option. A ton of these things have been made and are not rare. It sounds like I may have takers, but they haven’t asked me directly like gibbering-wreck wallflowers who piss themselves in front of the girl they want to take to the prom. Only time will tell who ends up getting cursed with the fucking Astley and Wang Chung tapes.

Now, the survivors of The Great Cassette Purge:

Adam & The Ants Kings Of The Wild Frontier

Adam & The Ants Prince Charming

Adam Ant Vive Le Rock

Aerosmith Big Ones

Bauhaus The  Sky’s Gone Out / Press The Eject And Give Me The Tape

Cars, The s/t

Cars, The Shake It Up

Charlatans UK, The Some Friendly

Cocteau Twins Blue Bell Knoll

Cure, The Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me

Cure, The Standing On A Beach

David Bowie Fame And Fashion

David Bowie Let’s Dance

Deee-Lite World Clique

Depeche Mode Black Celebration

Depeche Mode Violator

Dire Straits Alchemy (live)

Divinyls s/t

Doors, The Strange Days

Doors, The Waiting For The Sun

Duran Duran Arena

Duran Duran s/t

Duran Duran Seven And The Caged Tiger

Echo & The Bunnymen Reverberation

Echo & The Bunnymen s/t

Echo & The Bunnymen Songs To Learn & Sing

Elvis Costello & The  Attractions, The Best Of…

Elvis Costello Spike

Erasure The Innocents

Fall, The Seminal Live (???)

Gin Blossoms Up And Crumbling

Happy Mondays Pills N’ Thrills And Bellyaches

Human League, The Hysteria

Husker Du Warehouse: Songs And Stories

Iggy Pop Brick By Brick

Indigo Girls Rites Of Passage

INXS Kick

Jane’s Addiction Nothing’s Shocking

Kate Bush Hounds Of Love

Kate Bush Lionheart

Kate Bush The Kick Inside

Kate Bush The Sensual World

Kinks, The Think Visual

Kraftwerk The Mix

Ministry In Case You Didn’t Feel Like Showing Up (live)

New Order Substance

New Order Technique

Peter Gabriel So

Pop Will Eat Itself Cure For Sanity

Pretenders, The s/t

Pretenders, The The Singles

Public Image Ltd. 9

Queen s/t

R.E.M. Document

R.E.M. Eponymous

R.E.M. Fables Of The Reconstruction

R.E.M. Green

R.E.M. Monster

R.E.M. Murmur

Red Hot Chili Peppers Mother’s Milk

Redd Kross Third Eye

Replacements, The Don’t Tell A Soul

Replacements, The Pleased To Meet Me

Sinead O’Connor I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got

Siouxsie & The Banshees Peepshow

Smiths, The Louder Than Bombs

Smiths, The Rank

Smiths, The s/t

Steely Dan Greatest Hits

Stranglers, The Aural Sculpture

Talking Heads Speaking In Tongues

They Might Be Giants Lincoln

U2 Achtung Baby

U2 October

U2 Under A Blood Red Sky (live)

Velvet Underground, The Words And Music Of Lou Reed

XTC Oranges & Lemons

[shadowoffandoms]

I’d like to blame @/ashwii for showing their own version of TMNT, thus me making my own /j

So! Yeah! My own TMNT! Woo! Short synopsis is that this takes place in 2037, because futuristic stuff is my jam.

TL;DR: I mashed 2012 with Rise and this spawned out of it.

Leo: He’s a yellow bellied slider and is the second oldest (15)He’s 6’2 in height, being the tallest, and he’s very cocky and confident in his leadership skills (he’s not)! Very respectful though and sometimes patient (emphasis on sometimes).

Donnie: The twin to Leo (denies it) but is the third oldest! Standing at 6’0, he’s a southern painted turtle, and is the second strongest out of them all! He’s much more sarcastic (on purpose and on not) and is a giant lovable dork when allowed to infodump.

Raph: Surprise, he’s the youngest (14)! He is hotheaded sometimes, but it’s mostly rare and he’s just very…quiet. He for the most part rages internally, and he looks up to Leo a lot. He’s the strongest out of all the turtles! He likes to gloat to Mikey that yes, he might be younger, but he’s still taller! He is a northern red-bellied cooter.

Mikey: And thus this leaves Mikey as the oldest (16)! He’s the shortest (out of the turtles) at 5’8, and he’s a total goofball! He loved to goof off and is a very irresponsible older brother, though he cares deeply for all of his brothers and does look out for them when he can. He’s the local therapist, essentially. He’s also a spotted box turtle!

Casey Jones: GOONGALA! Casey is 16, and is 5’6 in height! He’s a vigilante, living among the streets for the most part, but he has a younger sister and dad waiting for him at home! He’s a but if a troublemaker, but knows when to pay attention and go serious when needed. (Fun fact: his mask is a Jason mask he found in the trash! He painted on all the cool marks.)

April O’Neil: She’s very punk and is age 15! She’s very much a rebel has been in and out of jobs, all for her parents, of course. She’s the gremlin sister the turtles never knew they needed! She takes inspiration from old stuff from the 80s and early 2000s era for music and closing wise.

Agh, anyways a fun little thing I made up is that Mikey dipped everyone’s masks in neon paint so they all glow in the dark now. (The whole aesthetic is Neon and Punk if it isn’t obvious, trying to go in that direction.)

Here’s a doc if you want to take a look at all the other characters lined up!

Asks are encouraged bc pls I’ve been brainrotting about this for too long.

[fabiansteinhauer]

Format it

In treuer Vollständigkeit beschreiben die Herren Daft Punk, dass das Protokoll der Bilder zu einem kleinen Teil im Sehen, Blicken, Bilden, Zeigen besteht und im übrigen im folgenden:

Buy it, use it, break it, fix it, trash it, change it, mail, upgrade it Charge it, point it, zoom it, press it, snap it, work it, quick erase it Write it, cut it, paste it, save it, load it, check it, quick rewrite it Plug it, play it, burn it, rip it, drag it, drop it, zip, unzip it Lock it, fill it, call it, find it, view it, code it, jam, unlock it Surf it, scroll it, pause it, click it, cross it, crack it, switch, update it Name it, read it, tune it, print it, scan it, send it, fax, rename it Touch it, bring it, pay it, watch it, turn it, leave it, stop, format it

Buy it, use it, break it, fix it, trash it, change it, mail, upgrade it Charge it, point it, zoom it, press it, snap it, work it, quick erase it Write it, cut it, paste it, save it, load it, check it, quick rewrite it Plug it, play it, burn it, rip it, drag it, drop it, zip, unzip it Lock it, fill it, call it, find it, view it, code it, jam, unlock it Surf it, scroll it, pause it, click it, cross it, crack it, switch, update it Name it, read it, tune it, print it, scan it, send it, fax, rename it Touch it, bring it, pay it, watch it, turn it, leave it, stop, format it

[putonmyfavoriteshow]

The drama of the 2.10 Roller Jam really hits. Like Jazmín showing up in the same costume as Ámbar after all the times she tried to show her, Adrenaline showing up to surprise everyone but also carrying all their baggage with Fer trying to get Matteo and Ramiro trying to prevent it and also Pablo seething in the bg, and Matteo and Luna seeing each other since the “reveal” (even my usual Lutteo hating self is sat for it)

Then the costumes? The Ramiro/Matteo/Gaston three musketeers, Jim & Yam’s Yin and Yang, Roller Bands punk costumes, Luna also just looks stunning (in the most unbelievable trash art Mora put together but we’ll suspend our disbelief)

[reckonslepoisson]

Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash (1981), Hootenanny (1983), The Replacements

Before the Replacements mellowed out a bit (but only a bit), they were simply a very solid, slightly-more-melodic-than-most punk band. These first two albums are jam-packed with exciting, fresh and bright punk tunes – it’s no wonder these guys would become the masters of all that’s catchy.

Pick(s): ‘Johnny’s Gonna Die’, ‘Color Me Impressed’

[ijustwantedtobeoneofthestrokesuk]

Nu Rave v Nu Grave

East London

Trends don’t happen overnight, they form over a series of circumstances that evolve into a movement. After a period of ‘bands’ drugs (mostly ecstasy) and the Hacienda saw the likes of The Stone Roses and New Order create music to dance to which seamlessly led to acid house and rave culture before dance music became part of the mainstream and eventually saturarised then returned to the underground. A similar cycle happened in the mid-2000’s thanks to the influx of indie discos, ecstasy (the affordable drug) again and the influence of Erol Alkan who was remixing indie tracks with electro beats. Klaxons came along to bridge the gap. 

After so many bands flooding the (landfill) indie scene it was inevitable that something needed to change or it would just become stale. Erol wasn’t the only one making indie danceable, there was Hot Chip dropping bangers while James Ford of Simian Mobile Disco was living between both worlds as we became producer and key collaborator for Arctic Monkeys and Foals, not forgetting the New York party scene, powered by DFA. There was a new sub-culture creeping in, suddenly it was ok for indie kids to like dance music. Simian and French electro duo J.U.S.T.I.C.E. created We Are Your Friends which is a straight-up electro-pop hit but it was fllling dance floors at the indie discos. This then opened up the doors for more Ed Banger artists to London’s hedonistic nightlife.  

Nu Rave was another scene created by the NME. Klaxons might have been the ones to bring day-glo and synth-heavy guitar pop to Shoreditch but it was the NME who built a global scene around them. There wasn’t other versions of Klaxons in London, NME had to search the globe to source similar artists with the same vision but, in reality, it was just a fad featuring the likes of CSS (Brazil), Shitdisco (Glasgow), Sunshine Underground (Leeds), Shy Child (New York), Gossip (Arkansas) and Crystal Castles (Toronto).  

Klaxons

Klaxons rise was fast but calculated and they had a mad couple of years. Jamie Reynolds was 25 when he formed the band with James Righton (22) and Simon Taylor-Davis (23), they had been in bands before, had friends in the industry, they weren’t naive teens who got lost in the hysteria, well, not in the beginning. The trio loved the indie scene but, they also loved rave culture too so they took influences from both, jammed together and wrote the majority of the first album quickly.  

They went shopping for brightly coloured clothes, not just for themselves but for friends who would come along to the early gigs so it looked like they’d already got a scene going on which made them much more marketable.  

Their debut album, Myths Of The Near Future, released in January 2007 reached no.2 in the UK album chart, won the Mercury Prize and took home Best Album at the NME Awards. Weirdly, they also performed at the Brits with Rihanna. But that was where it peaked for the band who couldn’t recreate the excitement on the 2 albums that followed.  

The ‘Nu Rave’ scene might have been a trend but its legacy lived long as it helped EDM go on to become the big thing in the 2010’s. Bands had a good decade, beats were back. 

Electro was the hipster sub-genre of EDM and its pioneers (Daft Punk, Justice and Ed Banger Records) might be French but London’s club nights (particularly Trash) and the indie electro remixes helped electro become cool again.

Nu Grave (apparently…)

We have learnt that the NME love to create genres but “Nu Grave” was just an opportunity to sell tickets for their annual tour. At that same time that Klaxons were turning up to warehouse parties in East London with neon and glowsticks, The Horrors were there in black. The Horrors sounded darker and heavy, but not heavy like a Kerrang! band. They were loud and intense, influenced by ‘60’s pop, ‘60’s psychedelic, Northern Soul and Neils Children. 

The Horrors

Conor McNicholas “When The Horrors turned up with an almost unlistenable first album, that was amazing for me, they said great things, arrived with a manifesto and looked brilliant. They worked really hard and collaborated with you to produce great visuals, the music was challenging, it wasn’t boring, you couldn’t ignore that band.  

Rhys from The Horrors did work experience at the NME on the photo desk. He then went off and did his own thing in Southend. They went from 4 rehearsals, 2 gigs in Southend, picked up by a label and on the cover of the NME in a matter of weeks. Nobody worked as hard and fast The Horrors at the time. The Horrors were signed to Loog Records, part of Polydor/Universal, James Oldham, who ‘discovered’ The Strokes and Stripes left the NME to start Loog. He signed The Horrors and their unlistenable album, it sold alright for an indie but useless for Universal who dropped them straight away. They went to XL and produced a stunner.“

In 2005 Faris (Rotter) Badwan moved to London when he was 17 and ended up living with Tom Cowan and his brother Freddie (who went on to be the guitarist in The Vaccines). They bonded over psychedelic’ 60’s records and Junk, a club night in Southend, organised by Rhys Webb which Tom DJ’d at with Joe Spurgeon while Joshua Hayward was also from Southend and they were all friends who started playing together in 2005.  

The Horrors weren’t everybody’s cup of tea, their debut album, Strange House (2007) was loud and chaotic, driven by youthful energy. They wore the clothes that were in their wardrobe (black) and their shows were ‘lively’. A scene naturally grew, boys went from eyeliner to covering more of their face in black makeup, hair got bigger and wardrobes got darker. The band wasn’t for the radio, they could be provocative, they became a cult band.  

After touring Strange House the band went into the studio to record some demos however, they weren’t exactly what the record label was hoping for. They were looking for something ‘radio-friendly’ (did they hear Strange House? What were they expecting?) and dropped them. Within weeks they were picked up by XL and the first single from Primary Colours, Sea Within A Sea wasn’t like anything on the debut album and it got played on the radio. This was just the start of The Horrors becoming a very different band to the one that exploded into a scene that was organically created around them.  

The Horrors calmed down on their second album Primary Colours (May 2009) which was influenced by shoegaze and with that came S.C.U.M, Toy, Chapel Club and White Lies. This sound can still be heard years later with the likes of Tame Impala and The National, to an extent. 

For a band that aren’t mainstream and unwilling to compromise, they have continued to creep into the top 10 with their albums, Skying (2011), Luminous (2014) and V (2017). 

NEXT CHAPTER

[whatilistenedtoatwork]

From July 31st to August 4th, 2023

31-07-23

CULTURE “Africa Stand Alone”; COLDCUT “Philosophy”; DIO “Holy Diver”; JACQUES BREL “Ces Gens-La”; ARTHUR RUSSELL “Tower Of Meaning”; WORLD PARTY “Private Revolution”; MICHAEL KIWANUKA “Love & Hate”; SOUL II SOUL “Club Classics Vol. One”; THE HEEBEEHEEBEES “20 Big No. 2’s”; JOHN LEE HOOKER “The Blues”; MORRISSEY “Live At Earl’s Court”

01-08-23

SCARFACE “The Diary”; STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS “Real Emotional Trash”; KRAFTWERK “Autobahn”; PLANXTY “Planxty”; THE SUGARHILL GANG “Rappin’ Down Town”; PINK FLOYD “Atom Heart Mother”; MIKEY DREAD “World War III”; RICHARD THOMPSON “Daring Adventures”; OZZY OSBOURNE “The Ultimate Sin”

02-08-23

KIRSTY MacCOLL “Electric Landlady”; BEASTIE BOYS “Ill Communication”; THE ORB “The Orb’s Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld”; DINOSAUR JR. “Green Mind”; BURNING SPEAR “Marcus Garvey”; JOHN LEE HOOKER “Live At Sugar Hill”; TANYA DONNELLY “Beautysleep”; FATBOY SLIM “You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby”; ELVIS PRESLEY “Loving You”; THE JAM “The Gift”; MEGADETH “Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?”; DINOSAUR JR. “Dinosaur”; PIXIES “Surfer Rosa”; GEORGE HARRISON “Gone Troppo”

03-08-23

D.J. SHADOW “The Outsider”; JULIAN COPE “My Nation Underground”; FAT BOYS “Coming Back Hard Again”; THE OYSTERBAND “Deserters”; JAMES BROWN “Hell”; DIANA ROSS & THE SUPREMES AND THE TEMPTATIONS “Diana Ross & The Supremes in The Temptations”; MUDDY WATERS “I’m Ready”; NEIL “Neil’s Heavy Concept Album”; SPEECH DEBELLE “Speech Therapy”; BEASTIE BOYS “Hello Nasty”; GRIZZLY BEAR “Yellow House”; THE COUP “Party Music”; DAFT PUNK “Alive 2007”

04-08-23

THE LIGHTNING SEEDS “Sense”; GOLEM “Fresh Off Boat”; THE SHINS “Wincing The Night Away”; BIG DADDY KANE “Daddy’s Home”; THE PRETENDERS “Pretenders”; MUDDY WATERS “Hard Again”; WENDY & LISA “Fruit At The Bottom”; MARTINA TOPLEY-BIRD “Quixotic”; BE-BOP DELUXE “Drastic Plastic”; LEONARD COHEN “Death Of A Ladies’ Man”; JACKIE WILSON “Lonely Teardrops”; LITTLE SIMZ “Sometimes I Might Be Introvert”; CICCONE YOUTH “The Whitey Album”

[howdoyoudorevue]

This week, we went back 25 years to Killarney, Manitoba. A personal milestone for me; becoming friends with some of the best people I've ever known. Two of them made me a mixtape that changed the way I looked at music, and I felt it was too good not to share. Enjoy!

~joe

HERE'S WHAT YOU HEARD TODAY!

VINCE GUARALDI - Peppermint Patty (Show Theme)

LOU REED - Perfect Day Transformer, 1972

MOTHERS OF INVENTION - Flower Punk We’re Only in It for the Money, 1968

SLOAN - Penpals Twice Removed, 1994

LUSCIOUS JACKSON - Soothe Yourself Fever In Fever Out, 1996

BEN FOLDS FIVE - Kate Whatever and Ever, Amen, 1997

10,000 MANIACS - Stockton Gala Days Our Time in Eden, 1992

PORTISHEAD - Glory Box (Mudflap Mix) Glory Times, 1997

PEARL JAM - Brain of J Yield, 1998

SUPERGRASS - Cheapskate In It For The Money, 1997

SUEDE - Trash Coming Up, 1996

DANIELSON FAMILE - Pottymouth Tri-Danielson!!! (Alpha), 1998

THE NEW COMMUNISTS - Utopian Island Kisses & Thistles, 2000

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